


HG1979 Drafts and Drabbles

by yetioverthere



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, Drabble Collection, Gen, Wizarding Politics, Wizarding World, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 04:31:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5403059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yetioverthere/pseuds/yetioverthere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A backup of misc bits and pieces of headcanon floating around in my brain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. excerpt from HG lecture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt from Dean Granger's annual guest lecture to the 5th year Muggle Studies class

...

Well, I thought it was all normal didn't I? The magic was a bit of a shock, but as a child you just accept things. Yes, I was muggleborn, but I got on that train at eleven and barely interacted with anyone outside of the wizarding world except my parents. To be honest, I didn't have much time for them either- there was so much to learn! And so I grew up, all the students of Hogwarts grow up, assuming that the sociopolitical culture they inherit is normal. How were we to know otherwise? It wasn't until I went to university, desperately trying to prove to my repatriated parents that everything could be "normal," that I began to see things differently. 

It's been said that the wizarding world is stuck in the 19th century, or even the 16th. Certainly we held onto feudal aristocracy a bit harder than the rest of Britain, even if we call it blood purity. But when you study history, nonmagical history I mean, you see things aren't so different after all. We just skipped the industrial revolution, and with it the rise of labour and the middle classes. Why bother, when a wand already confers every benefit of an industrialized society? Of course, we aped the trappings of the era; some cross-cultural exchange was inevitable. But for wizards it was fashion, and facade. An enchanted bus instead of a carriage, why not? But we kept the thestrals and the carriage didn't we? It was an _aesthetic_ choice, do you see?

At the core of it there's something almost childish. Fundamental to becoming an adult for every nonmagical child is understanding that wishing doesn't make it so. There's even a muggle term: "magical thinking," (and didn't that make me laugh when I first read of it) the belief that one's own thoughts influence the physical world. Muggles are expected to grow out of it by 7 or 8. Yet often, for witches and wizards, the opposite is the case. The accidental magic of a magical child frequently does reflect their thoughts, conscious or no, and an adult wizard can satisfy almost any basic desire with a wave of a wand. This isn't a perfect analogy and yes, some basic study is required but even an adolescent wizard can, with just a wand and some simple components, cover the first two levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. A quick trip to the potions shop can get you a decent chance at quickly gaining the next two, if somewhat artificially. 

I don't think it's too much to go so far as to say that this ease of life bleeds over into our political institutions. The vast majority of witches and wizards, our comfortably insular nation, are not in the habit of having to think or work all that hard for their basic needs. I'm not saying we're all layabouts. Indeed, in some ways we have achieved the muggle ideal: we don't work to eat; for most wizards work is, again, an aesthetic preference, or a means to enjoy the finer things in life, those luxuries still constrained by scarcity. But when it comes to facing the hard political issues, witches and wizards in general seem to have a bit more difficulty breaking the instinctive habit of thought that says any problem can be solved by, well, magic. Wishful thinking.

I wonder sometimes if the late Headmaster Dumbledore saw this; what he made of it. Perhaps he saw it as an innocence, to be protected. I see it as a weakness. It predisposes our institutions to ineffectual floundering and our population to hero worship in the face of unexpected difficulties. If the wizarding world is to be safe from the next would-be dark lord, if we are to overcome the injustices which stalk our history, we must learn to collectively confront those injustices with clear eyes and courage. 

-From Professor Hermione Granger's annual guest lecture to the 5th year Muggle Studies class at Hogwarts.


	2. Excerpt from post-war history 1

Though often overshadowed in the public mind by the accomplishments of his friends, it was Ronald Weasley who first demonstrated the deftest ability to navigate the Kafkaesque Ministry of Magic bureaucracy. Young Hermione Granger could never resist being distracted into debates about process, and Harry Potter had a tendency to turn red and shout at people when faced with obstructionist civil servants. The Ministry was as much a product of standard British “muddling through” as any other part of Her Majesty’s Government, if not more so, and as Weasley himself was no stranger to this particular life strategy perhaps it was natural that he would find himself at home.

In retrospect it would have been impossible to have grown up in the crowded Weasley household without picking up some techniques for dealing with those in a position to hold something over you, whether that was a toy broom or HSE Directive Revision 2000-049 on Creature-Derived Alchemical Components.

Did it count as nepotism if your father was a career civil servant with a lifetime’s accumulated connections? If your brother George was a member of the Diagon Alley Chamber of Commerce and had friends in import/export at the Ministry IMTSB office? If brother Percy knew where the bodies (literally in some cases) were buried thanks to his tenure during the Riddle insurgency?

So it was Ronald who taught Harry the fine art of smiling and acting stupid after the fact rather than seeking permission. It was Ron who muttered "zwischenzug" and suggested to Hermione that if the Very Important Members of Section M.I. Trx were sufficiently distracted by the prospect of ICW standards compliance monitors at Hogwarts they might not notice the language slipped into an omnibus appropriations bill relieving them of their budget and oversight authority.

Ronald Weasley chose not to pursue a Ministry career and instead followed his brother into the business world, but without him it’s doubtful we’d have the good-natured and confident Head Auror whose charm and celebrity seem to waft him over the political fray. Nor, one suspects, would Permanent Undersecretary for Education Granger be able to boast of the crusading protégés she has placed throughout the Ministry.


	3. Interviews with the class of 98

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> drabble

Excerpt from October 2001 WWN Interview

...

HG: Why did I join the Board of Governors rather than teach? Padma didn't sell you on that love of learning line did she? I have goals, and the Board is the means to achieve them. For every person who trotted out that 'brightest witch of her age' flattery did any of them call me the most patient witch of her age? Most understanding? Best with children? Honestly if we hadn't all been constantly scrambling to save our lives I'm not sure Harry and Ron would have put up with me through Hogwarts. I don't think it's the best use of my talents. Working with the Board is a way to ensure we never again see a repeat of the hijacking of the educational mission of magical society's premier educational institution as we did during the Riddle Insurgency.

...

LJ: Your recent petition to the Wizengamot has been called an attack on Minister Shacklebolt's government.

HG: That is an utter misrepresentation of what we on the Board are trying to achieve. Minister Shacklebolt is a firm supporter of this effort to return the governance of Hogwarts School to its _traditional_ model. Your listeners will remember how the centralization of power in the Ministry during Recent Events allowed a small terrorist insurgency to seize control of magical Britain's institutions virtually overnight. Hogwarts School existed for hundreds of years before the Ministry of Magic was created and it is the Board of Governors who should be trusted with the running of the school. Providing independent compliance monitoring for OWLs and NEWTs is one thing but allowing a coterie of unaccountable bureaucrats with little or no educational expertise to rule the school by decree puts childrens' futures at risk and is an affront to the experience of Hogwarts' parents and staff.

...


	4. What is Right and What is Easy – Sociology of Wizarding Britain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Partial syllabus from Granger's lecture series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A number of the "textbooks" in the syllabus are taken from various works of fanfiction. I unfortunately failed to keep track of what came from where but have credited the author as the author when I could recall the information. If you object to something I've included please let me know and I will correct it.

**What is Right and What is Easy – Sociology of Wizarding Britain**

Class Location: Classroom 1A  
Class Hours: special class – see attached schedule  
Instructor: Academic Dean Hermione Granger, OM1, Grand Sorc.  
Instructor Contact:   
Due to schedule constraints Dean Granger is unable to hold regular office hours. Students may contact her by owling H. Granger c/o Hogwarts Board of Governors Administrative Office, High Street, Hogsmeade Village. Dean Granger takes tea at The Three Broomsticks every Hogsmeade weekend from 15:00-17:00 and can meet with any student during that time provided they inform her in advance. 

This class is mandatory for all fifth years and is taught as a NEWT-level seminar by Hogwarts Academic Dean Hermione Granger and a number of guest lecturers. Students meet for twenty sessions with all four houses combined in one class, to allow for the rest of the intensive 5th year schedule. The course consists of a review of and reflection on the social and political anatomy of Wizarding Britain with an emphasis on recent history. 

 

Required Texts

Tales of Beedle the Bard  
The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore by Rita Skeeter  
Great Speeches of the Wizengamot 1066-1999, edited by E. Doge  
Expecto Patronus: Or How the Wizarding World Really Works by Pharnazabus the Magician  
Rule of Law in the Wizarding World or Crumple-Horned Snorkack: Which is the Mythical Beast? By AJ Hall  
The War Strategy of Albus Dumbledore by Amanda Brocklehurst  
Economy and Society, Max Weber  
Selected Readings from E.H. Carr  
The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other by Tzvetan Todorov

Supplemental Texts (On reserve at the Hogwarts Library)  
Note that some of these texts are in the restricted section. Contact Dean Granger about access.

Little People, Big Plans by Ragnok the Pigeon-Toed.  
Pure-Blood Directory 1932 ed.  
Pure-Blood Directory 1991 ed.  
The Decline of Pagan Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe ICW Press  
Beings and the Beast - Free will, destiny, contagion for animagi and werewolf by Andrea Schutz   
Social problems of the Wizarding Community by Joanna Lipinska   
Muggle Magic: Have they caught up with us? by Ruth Roulston   
The Anatomy of Power and the Conquering of the Self by Ursula Mueller  
Convention to Insurgency: The Pureblood Movement 1930-1998 Gwen Tarbox


End file.
